PLATRO and I Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco Colin Fox, narrator Simon Wynberg, guitar ACD2 2725 • Juan Ramón Jiménez's meditative reflections on the peregrinations of an Andalusian countryman and his loyal little donkey, Platero, have long captured the Spanish imagination.   The 138 prose poems that make up Platero Y Yo (Platero and I) were published in 1914.   In June 1960 Mario Castenuo-Tedesco began to work on guitar accompaniments to 28 of the poems from Jiménez's Platero Y Yo.   They are best described as musical commentaries, reinforcing and complementing Jiménez's prose, and matching the changing moods. • The English versions that Castelnuovo-Tedesco used for his settings of Platero Y Yo were drawn from the complete translation by the American academic Eloïse Roach which was first published in 1957.   Actor Colin Fox and guitarist Simon Wynberg have chosen this English version for their recording. • In assembling the Platero cycle Colin Fox and Simon Wynberg have chosen 18 of the most compelling settings and organized them in a way that follows a seasonal narrative while also providing effective musical and emotional contrasts. • Aside from a busy acting career spanning 50 years, on and off Broadway, the Stratford and Shaw Festivals, feature films, radio and television, Colin Fox made his concert debut in 1974 in the title role of Berlioz’ Lelio with the Toronto and Boston Symphonies under Seiji Ozawa.   He has since appeared in Enoch Arden with pianist Anton Kuerti; as all the voices in L'Histoire du Soldat; Carnival of the Animals with duo pianists Anagnoson & Kinton, among many projects. • Simon Wynberg enjoys a diverse career as a guitarist, chamber musician and artistic director.   He established and directed the Scottish chamber festival Music in Blair Atholl for 20 years and was artistic director of Canada's Guelph Spring Festival from 1994 to 2002, when he was appointed Artistic Director of the ARC Ensemble, the ensemble-in-residence at Canada's Royal Conservatory of Music. Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco 1. Platero (I) 2. Friendship (VIII) 3. April Idyll (XVI) 4. Return (III) 5. The Consumptive Girl (XIII) 6. Carnival (XXVII) 7. Lullaby Singer (XVIII) 8. The Moon (IX) 9. Sunday (XXV) Platero and I 10. Wayside Flower (XXIV) 11. November Idyll (XX) 12. Convalescence (XXII) 13. Swallows (XXIII) 14. Spring (IV) 15. Death (XXI) 16. Melancholy (VII) 17. Nostalgia (XIV) 18. Platero in Heaven (XXVIII) ATMA Classique is distributed in Australia by Rockian Trading PO Box 44, Briar Hill, Vic, 3088, Australia Telephone +61 (0)3 9432 4149 ~ Facsimile +61 (0)3 9444 6879